A local political figure* recently said "if hitachi can not build decent trains, then I for one don't want one of their nukes"

Said person* has suffered somewhat from the new hitachi trains that are now running to/from the west country.
They are often shorter than the old trains, seem less reliable, have underfloor engines, no buffet and very hard seats.

*It is not my intention to name the politician in question, firstly because the remark quoted was "off the record" at a social event, and secondly I don't want this thread to degenerate into a party political bunfight._________________"Installers and owners of emergency diesels must assume that they will have to run for a week or more"

They have underfloor engines, Adam, because nationalised Network Rail couldn't build out the infrastructure for a fully electrified service anywhere near on time and anywhere near on budget. And people are calling for the whole network to be nationalised!!_________________Action is the antidote to despair - Joan Baez

I would prefer the UK to have a nuclear baseload of 15 to 20 GW for 'energy security' reasons. I can fully understand that people actually living in the UK disagree with this. I am also living 6682km away from the nearest operating nuclear plant (in Southern Taiwan BTW) and I think people in the UK are less than 300km away from a nuke so may be more worried about the possibility of an accident. There is a small 'research' reactor in Sydney if that makes you feel better. I certainly do.

The alternative reliable baseload is unfortunately coal, Russian or Qatari gas with political and security ramifications or some form of tidal power. Tidal power seems about a likely as nuclear at the moment so I think the muddle through will be more offshore wind, more energy imports once the HVDC links to Norway and Belgium are opened, delay coal plant closures and more gas.

I think it is a shame that the UK industry could not have continued the AGR program even though it was fraught with construction issues but there you go._________________G'Day cobber!

The whole of the fossil fuel industry, in which I include nuclear, should be being shut down now. Instead the opposite is happening.

Humans are thick and certainly don’t derserve the adjective ‘wise’._________________I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker

The whole of the fossil fuel industry, in which I include nuclear, should be being shut down now. Instead the opposite is happening.

Humans are thick and certainly don’t derserve the adjective ‘wise’.

Your lumping in nuclear with fossil fuels is at least debatable but the immediate shutdown of the fossil fuel industry/economy without a replacement, up and working in place, would result in the premature deaths of billions.
Is that really what you want?

The whole of the fossil fuel industry, in which I include nuclear, should be being shut down now. Instead the opposite is happening.

Humans are thick and certainly don’t derserve the adjective ‘wise’.

The problem is how to get the energy and remain an 'advanced' civilization. Not all fossil fuels go to make electricity. A lot are used in transport and manufacture. Making cement produces between 4% and 8% of CO2 emissions. I think the desire to drop fossil fuels is admirable but they are intricately linked to civilization. I think from a lot of your postings you are something of an anti-civilization person. Not everyone wants to reduce their energy intake. Just see how it works for an elected official or someone seeking office.

In the UK anyway, I think the population density is too high and the available sustainable food and energy per capita from the land area is too low to go renewable too quickly. So the UK is stuck with buying overseas energy with the risks that Russia will use it to develop new nukes or to buy from the middle East and risk becoming a Muslim dominated state in the long term. It is really a stark choice in the short to medium term, say 5 to 25 years, from where the UK can get its energy before renewables and storage can come into serious use._________________G'Day cobber!

The whole of the fossil fuel industry, in which I include nuclear, should be being shut down now. Instead the opposite is happening.

Humans are thick and certainly don’t derserve the adjective ‘wise’.

Your lumping in nuclear with fossil fuels is at least debatable but the immediate shutdown of the fossil fuel industry/economy without a replacement, up and working in place, would result in the premature deaths of billions.
Is that really what you want?

Not my problem. It should happen, full stop._________________I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker

I think from a lot of your postings you are something of an anti-civilization person.

It really depends on the definition of civilisation._________________I experience pleasure and pains, and pursue goals in service of them, so I cannot reasonably deny the right of other sentient agents to do the same - Steven Pinker